Best bets: pop music

Ben Crandell, SouthFlorida.com

Monty Alexander: One of the great jazz pianists of our time, Alexander delved into his Jamaican roots on last year’s glorious “Harlem-Kingston Express,” which was nominated for a Grammy Award as best reggae album. Beautiful Biscayne Bay will be the perfect setting for Alexander’s performance on the second day of the Miami Jazz Fest, Nov. 17-18 at Bayfront Park, Miami. Tickets: $45-$90, or $110-$130 for two-day passes at MiamiJazzFest.com.

Madonna: We make no apologies for this. She has somehow remained at the top of her game, displayed in full flower at the 2012 Super Bowl, a youthful, glamorous spectacle that conjured up images that were equal parts Las Vegas and pre-Vegas Elvis. Do not miss your chance to see skinny Madonna! She’s got two shows, Nov. 19-20, at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami. Tickets: $62.05-$386.50 at Ticketmaster locations.

Eddie Vedder: As the Pearl Jam generation evolves, so does its frontman, now less a totem of our ancestral, flanneled history than a guide to moving on. His solo tour, with dates rescheduled earlier this year by a bad back, is in support of the delicate power of “Ukulele Songs.” Vedder performs Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, with thoughtful opening act Glen Hansard. Tickets: $79.50 at BrowardCenter.org.

Public Image Ltd.: The quartet that John Lydon has been associated with for more than 30 years after the dissolution of a little band called the Sex Pistols, PiL’s Oct. 5 date at Grand Central in Miami will include heavy doses of its first studio album in two decades, “This is PiL.” Which is a very good thing, indeed. Tickets: $30-$35 at GrandCentralMiami.com.

Louis C.K.: Little did they know when the Broward Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1991 with a chic gala performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's “The Phantom of the Opera” that the venue’s lush acoustics would someday embrace the fertile profanity of comedian Louis C.K. for not one, but two shows on Nov. 28. Tickets are $45 at LouisCK.net.

“Stars of SNL Live”: In searching the season of popular entertainment in South Florida for one of those rare guaranteed good times, we feel compelled to mention the Three Tenors of “Saturday Night Live,” our slang for the tour by Jon Lovitz, Chris Kattan and Tim Meadows that hits the Coral Springs Center for the Arts on Feb. 7. Watching his obsequious turn on ABC’s “The Middle” makes us regret missing Kattan’s years on “SNL,” pretty much entirely. Tickets: $45-$100 at CoralSpringsCenterfortheArts.com.